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caraher

(6,356 posts)
13. I don't see why the "pyramid" would ever be "rebuilt"
Sat May 26, 2012, 01:53 PM
May 2012

The INES manual is pretty clear that every release above a certain point is by definition level 7:

2.2.2. Definition of levels based on activity released2
Level 7
“An event resulting in an environmental release corresponding to a quantity of radioactivity radiologically equivalent to a release to the atmosphere of more than several tens of thousands of terabecquerels of 131I.”
This corresponds to a large fraction of the core inventory of a power reactor, typically involving a mixture of short and long lived radionuclides. With such a release, stochastic health effects over a wide area, perhaps involving more than one country, are expected, and there is a possibility of deterministic health effects. Long-term environmental consequences are also likely, and it is very likely that protective action such as sheltering and evacuation will be judged necessary to prevent or limit health effects on members of the public.


Remember that the whole purpose of the INES rating system is to manage communications with the general public about the significance of an incident. As pointed out in post 8, the whole "pyramid" is a rather peculiar way of expressing this, since its visual representation emphasizes frequency over consequences. Given the rhetorical purposes of the INES scale, I see no particular reason why those who set it up would feel remotely compelled to revamp the scale in the face of a "worse than as bad as it can get" accident.

The notion of a logarithmic scale is meant to condition media reporting rather than be taken too literally as a quantitative scale. The Richter scale needs no recalibration in the face of an unusually large earthquake, because it has a very specific physics basis; the INES rating scale does not.

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Current Fukishima headlines #2: [View all] dixiegrrrrl May 2012 OP
There's no contradiction. kristopher May 2012 #1
WRONG AS ALWAYS!! PamW May 2012 #5
Wrong way Pam strikes again... kristopher May 2012 #8
thank you, Kristopher. dixiegrrrrl May 2012 #6
dupe: delete dixiegrrrrl May 2012 #7
Flat wrong. FBaggins May 2012 #10
Chernobyl, does, in fact represent the present peak of the conceptual pyramid kristopher May 2012 #11
I don't see why the "pyramid" would ever be "rebuilt" caraher May 2012 #13
These go to eleven OKIsItJustMe May 2012 #14
It is refreshing to have a well reasoned position presented kristopher May 2012 #15
Amen to that last part caraher May 2012 #27
Nope. An active imagination doesn't mean you have a clue. FBaggins May 2012 #21
Further evidence is found on page 29 FBaggins May 2012 #22
You're a hoot, Baggins. kristopher May 2012 #23
Were you going to adress any of the evidence AT ALL? FBaggins May 2012 #24
Major problems’ with radiation testing for children dixiegrrrrl May 2012 #2
TEPCO's post-mortem shows No. 2 reactor main source of radiation dixiegrrrrl May 2012 #3
Yesterday the WHO said radiation levels were low in Japan WTF? Frosty1 May 2012 #4
Probably a lot of the radiation has gone due to half-life decay NickB79 May 2012 #9
Preliminary Dose Estimation from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake… OKIsItJustMe May 2012 #12
What do you think about that report? Reliable? dixiegrrrrl May 2012 #16
Yeah… I'm going to trust the UN OKIsItJustMe May 2012 #17
Accepting this statement by the WHO... kristopher May 2012 #18
I don't think the WHO is colluding with the nuclear power industry OKIsItJustMe May 2012 #19
It isn't a matter of collusion. kristopher May 2012 #20
Your implication is that the WHO cannot be trusted OKIsItJustMe May 2012 #25
I didn't imply anything. kristopher May 2012 #26
Garwin called them "deliberately misleading" bananas May 2012 #28
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Current Fukishima headlin...»Reply #13